We rescued a 10 month old poodle mix (most likely a shih-poo) who is 14 lbs last month. He is such a sweet guy and he seems to be adapting to our family.

We have noticed that he gets so "skittish" when we try to go to him..especially with the leash to go to take him for a walk. He literally runs away from us..and he is hard to catch! Any advice in this area?

On the flip side..the dog "hates" to be crated. While he is pretty much housetrained, I refuse to leave him to his own devices in the house when we go out since he is chewing and could still possibly have accidents. We attempted a kennel that would he would just fit in and he refuses to go into it..even with the yummiest of treats put in as as bait. He will thrash and wiggle and put his body in a vertical position and you cant get him in. We had to move to a bigger crate so we can physically get him in with something with a larger door. He is fine at night to sleep in it..does ok in it for 4 hours during the day when we are working..but if we put him in it even for an hour in the evening (if we want to go out for dinner or to a movie) he he poop in it.

Once we fully trust him to not pee/poo in the house and the chewing goes down I plan on letting him have the run of one floor of our house.

It just seems odd that he runs from us when we want him to come, but gets anxious when we are not in his site.

Since he wasn't a young pup when you rescued him, you don't know if he had a bad experience with a leash before. I would say to leave the leash on the ground so she can sniff it. When he gets used to it, you can put it on him to walk around with the leash on in the house but no one holding it. Then slowly begin to hold the leash and see if he will go for a walk. I would use treats and lots of praise.

Could be he was in a cage alot in his previous home or just at a shelter, etc. I know mine didn't like the wire crates, they only like the vari kennels. I would definitely exericise him before you go out to dinner so he goes potty and is tired when you leave. This may help.

I would say have lots of patience, give lots of praise, and he will slowly come around.